A failed plan to tax the rich at 75 percent. A glaring lack of global competitiveness. Famous actors trading in their French citizenship for Russian to avoid paying high tax rates. The news from Paris as of late has been a bit sensational, but also dire. Could France be the first northern country in the European Union to confront potential economic demise in 2013? Perhaps that assessment is not unlike Gerard Depardieu's highly publicized Moscow defectiona bit dramatic. But according to recent economic figures, there is some cause for concern.

The French economyEurope's second largestgrew at just 0.1 percent in 2012, and unemployment remains at a 14-year high of nearly 11 percent. High labor and production costs have all but crushed competitiveness with European and Asian exporters in the global market, and the French continue to resist making the kinds of deep economic reforms that helped countries like Germany get back on track in the 1980s.

Walking the streets of Paris during the recent holiday season, few French nationals were to be found along the boulevards of les grands magasins. Rather, Chinese, Russians and Brazilians filled the streets admiring the holiday windows, which in many ways were a reflection of their own images.

But observers note that this model is unsustainable for the country of 65 million. As Fortune's Shawn Tully writes this week, "La crise est arrive." Even The New York Times ran an editorial Sunday decrying the sad state of the French economy and offered up a number of potential remedies.

Many believe that fixing France should be paramount to the European projectwhether reforms come internally or are triggered by outside forces.

At the rate we are going, France will have to at least second or third on the bankrupt list. The Democrats do seem to be entrenched with emulating Greece or France - and the Republicans are not far behind. Can you say that Government, both parties are corrupt and will NOT perform for the good of America (only for their constituency - ie. can I be re-elected). They are so dishonest and corrupt that it does not seem to matter who is elected these days!

Have to agree a bit with others, we have one of the best corrupt Democracies and it pays very well!

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